E Reader

ARTICLES ABOUT E READER BY DATE - PAGE 3

Amazon.com Inc is expected to launch a new tablet on Thursday, the latest salvo in a battle for control of mobile access to the Internet. Amazon is expected to announce at least one new version of its 7-inch Kindle Fire at a press conference near Los Angeles. A larger tablet may also be unveiled, along with an update of the company's popular Kindle e-reader. "The swing factor in the expectation on the upcoming Kindle Fire could be on how much lower pricing can go," said So Young Lee, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

Aug 31 (TheWrap.com) - With some major announcement coming next Wednesday from Amazon, the speculation keeps flying: New various-sized Kindle Fires? An Amazon phone? A gaming console? Here's Friday's: Tech site The Verve publishedÂ photos of what it says is the online retail giant's new backlit e-reader. While the USB port and overall aesthetic of the device appear unaltered, the supposed new Kindle Touch loses its home button below the display and has a "higher contrast, high resolution, integrated lighting and eight weeks of battery life," according to a quote in the Verve story.

By Phil Wahba NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc cut prices on three models of its Nook e-reader and tablet devices on Sunday, ahead of the peak of the back to school season and amid speculation that rival Amazon.com Inc is preparing to launch a new version of its Kindle Fire tablet. Barnes & Noble, which has said the Nook has allowed it to win 27 percent of the U.S. e-books market, said it had slashed the retail price of its Nook tablet with 16 GB of memory to $199 from $249.

Amazon.com Inc. plans to expand its mobile platform and broaden its offering of devices beyond e-readers and the Kindle Fire tablet, analysts, developers and retail partners said ahead of results next week from the world's largest Internet retailer. Amazon is to introduce up to five or six tablet SKUs, or stock-keeping units, according Demos Parneros, president of U.S. Retail for Staples Inc., which sells the Fire. The tablets will be different sizes, including a 10-inch model, Parneros said.

* Debut of Kobo e-reader fills new product need * Others tried without success for Japan e-reader * Publishers see Rakuten as better fit than Amazon By Jeremy Wagstaff and Mari Saito TOKYO, July 17 (Reuters) - Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten Inc looks set to steal a march on rival Amazon.com when it launches its Kobo e-reader and e-book service in Japan on Thursday. For CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, it's the first salvo in a wider war that the ebullient Harvard MBA, called Mickey by everyone including his staff, hopes will transform Rakuten into a global player in digital commerce.

Several major producers last week were making their pitches to shoot a movie based on the erotic bestseller, "Fifty Shades of Grey," even as "Fifty Shades" products ranging from lingerie to sleepwear are poised to hit retailers. It's intriging to see filmmakers like Michael De Luca, Brian Grazer and Nina Jacobson, among others, making their presentations to a once-obscure author like E.L. James -- she's really Erika Leonard, a middle-aged British mom with a rich fantasy life. Members of the billionaire ladies club like Stephenie Meyer ("Twilight")

Like a lot of Americans, Amalie Drury has grown very attached to her smartphone. The 33-year-old Chicago writer checks the device multiple times a day for Facebook updates and email messages. She brings it into the bathroom when she brushes her teeth. And she often totes it to bed, "just to check email one more time and play a few more rounds of Words With Friends. " If Drury wakes up in the middle of the night, she reaches for her phone again. "My first thought is to pick up the iPhone to see what's happening in the news," she said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Though Kindles and Nooks are becoming almost as common as books, more than half of all U.S. readers don't know they can borrow e-books from their local library, a Pew Center poll showed on Friday. The poll showed 62 percent of readers didn't know if their library had e-books for lending, and only 12 percent of Americans 16 and older who read e-books had borrowed at least one from a library in the past year. "The most important thing libraries can do is make sure e-books are accessible through the rest of the library system," said Micah May, the director of strategy at the New York Public Library, about raising e-book lending awareness.